STYLISTICS OF TEXT AND DISCOURSE

FINAL PAPER TASK:

Apply Beard's contextual framework for the analysis of ONE of the texts given below -
write between 3-4 pages; Use TNR 12, 1,5 spacing.
The paper must also include a bibliographical section at the end where all sources are listed.
The extended paper (3-4 pages) must be printed and handed in to the teacher at the
exam. During the examination, your oral presentation will focus on the highlights/main
ideas of your analysis – it will last no longer than 5 minutes.

PROPOSED TEXTS (3 literary, 1 political)

TEXT 1
“He was hurrying along the path now, deeing through the weeds and grasses that caught at him,
tearing at the loose pyjamas on his legs, and at his feet in their open sandals. Brushing them
aside, he tried to return to his old idolatry of the poet, his awe of him, his devotion when it had
still been pure, and his gratitude for his poetry and friendship, that strange, unexpected,
unimaginable friendship that had brought him so much pain.
That friendship still existed, even if there had been a muddle, a misunderstanding. He
had imagined he was taking Nur’s poetry into safe custody, and not realized that if he was to be
custodian of Nur’s genius, then Nur would become his custodian and place him in custody too.
This alliance could be considered an unendurable burden – or else a shining honour. Both
demanded an equal strength.
The faintly glimmering path by the black canal was like a thread he had to follow to the
end. Where was the end? Was there one? He had a vision of Nur’s bier, white, heaped with
dowers, rose and marigold, bright blazing dowers on the white sheet. He saw the women in the
family weeping and wading around it. He heard the funeral music play. He saw the shroud, the
grave – Open. When Nur was laid in it, would this connection break, this relation end? No, never
– the bills would come to him, he would have to pay for the funeral, support the widows, raise
his son…
He stopped, panting for breath, on the canal bank and stared at the water that stopped
and turned concentrically in a whirlpool at that point. The whirlpool was an opening into the
water, leading into its depths. But these were dark and obscure. The sky was fining with a grey
light that was dissolving the dense blackness of night. It glistened upon a field of white pampas
grass which waved in a sudden breeze that had sprung up, laughing, waving and rustling
through the grasses with a live, rippling sound. He thought of Nur’s poetry being read, the
sound of it softly murmuring in his ears. He had accepted the gift of Nur’s poetry and that meant
he was custodian of Nur’s very soul and spirit. It was a great distinction. He could not deny or
abandon that under any pressure.
He turned back. He walked up the path. Soon the sun would be up and blazing. The day
would begin, with its calamities. They would flash out of the sky and cut him down like swords.
He would run to meet them. He ran, stopping only to pull a branch of thorns from under his
foot.” (Anita Desai, In Custody, p. 240)

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TEXT 2
“A single cry quickened his heart-beat and, leaping up, he dashed away toward the ocean side
and the thick jungle till he was hung up among creepers; he stayed there for a moment with his
calves quivering. If only one could have quiet, a long pause, a time to think!
And there again, shrill and inevitable, was the ululation sweeping across the island. At
that sound he shied like a horse among the creepers and ran once more till he was panting. He
flung himself down by some ferns. The tree, or the charge? He mastered his breathing for a
moment, wiped his mouth, and told himself to be calm. Samneric were somewhere in that line,
and hating it. Or were they? And supposing, instead of them, he met the chief, or Roger who
carried death in his hands?
Ralph pushed back his tangled hair and wiped the sweat out of his best eye. He spoke
aloud.
“Think.”
What was the sensible thing to do?
There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity
of the conch.
“Think.”
Most, he was beginning to dread the curtain that might waver in his brain, blacking out
the sense of danger, making a simpleton of him.
A third idea would be to hide so well that the advancing line would pass without
discovering him.
He jerked his head off the ground and listened. There was another noise to attend to
now, a deep grumbling noise, as though the forest itself were angry with him, a somber noise
across which the ululations were scribbled excruciatingly as on slate. He knew he had heard it
before somewhere, but had no time to remember.
Break the line.
A tree.
Hide, and let them pass.
A nearer cry stood him on his feet and immediately he was away again, running fast
among thorns and brambles. Suddenly he blundered into the open, found himself again in that
open space – and there was the fathom-wide grin of the skull, no longer ridiculing a deep blue
patch of sky but jeering up into a blanket of smoke. Then Ralph was running beneath trees, with
the grumble of the forest explained. They had smoked him out and set the island on fire.”
(William Golding, Lord of the Flies, pp. 176–7)

TEXT 3
“THE PRINTOUT of Jeff’s survey was laid before Sir Jack on his Battle Table. Potential
purchasers of Quality Leisure in twenty-five countries had been asked to list six characteristics,
virtues or quintessences which the word England suggested to them. They were not being
asked to free-associate; there was no pressure of time on the respondents, no preselected
multiple choice. ‘If we’re giving people what they want,’ Sir Jack had insisted, ‘then we should at
least have the humility to find out what that might be.’ Citizens of the world therefore told Sir
Jack in an unprejudiced way what in their view the Fifty Quintessences of Englishness were:
1. ROYAL FAMILY
2. BIG BEN/HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
3. MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB

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4. CLASS SYSTEM
5. PUBS
6. A ROBIN IN THE SNOW
7. ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE MEN
8. CRICKET
9. WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER
10. IMPERIALISM
11. UNION JACK
12. SNOBBERY
13. GOD SAVE THE KING/QUEEN
14. BBC
15. WEST END
16. TIMES NEWSPAPER
17. SHAKESPEARE
18. THATCHED COTTAGES
19. CUP OF TEA/DEVONSHIRE CREAM TEA
20. STONEHENGE
21. PHLEGM/STIFF UPPER LIP
22. SHOPPING
23. MARMALADE
24. BEEFEATERS/TOWER OF LONDON
25. LONDON TAXIS
26. BOWLER HAT
27. TV CLASSIC SERIALS
28. OXFORD/CAMBRIDGE
29. HARRODS
30. DOUBLE-DECKER BUSES/RED BUSES
31. HYPOCRISY
32. GARDENING
33. PERFIDY/UNTRUSTWORTHINESS
34. HALF-TIMBERING
35. HOMOSEXUALITY
36. ALICE IN WONDERLAND
37. WINSTON CHURCHILL
38. MARKS & SPENCER
39. BATTLE OF BRITAIN
40. FRANCIS DRAKE
41. TROOPING THE COLOUR
42. WHINGEING
43. QUEEN VICTORIA
44. BREAKFAST
45. BEER/WARM BEER
46. EMOTIONAL FRIGIDITY
47. WEMBLEY STADIUM
48. FLAGELLATION/PUBLIC SCHOOLS
49. NOT WASHING/BAD UNDERWEAR
49. NOT WASHING/BAD UNDERWEAR

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50. MAGNA CARTA
Jeff watched Sir Jack’s expression move between wise self-congratulation and acrid dismay as
he worked through the list. Then a fleshy hand dismissed him, and Jeff knew the bitterness of
the messenger.
Alone, Sir Jack considered the printout again. It frankly deteriorated towards the end. He
crossed off items he judged the result of faulty polling technique and pondered the rest. Many
had been correctly foreseen: there would be no shortage of shopping and thatched cottages
serving Devonshire cream teas on the Island. Gardening, breakfast, taxis, double-deckers: those
were all useful endorsements. A Robin in the Snow: where had that come from? All those
Christmas cards, perhaps. The Magna Carta was currently being translated into decent
English. The Times newspaper was no doubt easily acquired; Beefeaters would be fattened up,
and the White Cliffs of Dover relocated without much linguistic wrenching to what had
previously been Whitecliff Bay. Big Ben, the Battle of Britain, Robin Hood, Stonehenge: couldn’t
be simpler.
But there were problems at the top of the list. Numbers 1, 2, and 3, to be precise. Sir Jack had
put out early feelers to Parliament, but his initial offer to the nation’s legislators, put forward at
a working breakfast with the Speaker of the House of Commons, had been insensitively
received; the word contempt might even have been used. The football club would be easier:
he’d send Mark up to Manchester with a team of top negotiators. Little blue-eyed Mark who
looked like a soft touch and then flattered you into signing your life away. No doubt there would
be matters of local pride, civic tradition, and so on – there always were. Sir Jack knew that in
such cases it was rarely just a question of price: it was price combined with the necessary self-
deception that price was finally less important than principle. What principle might apply here?
Well, Mark would find one. And if they dug their little studs in, you could always buy up the
club’s title behind its back. Or simply copy it and tell them to fuck off.
Buck House would need a different approach: less carrot and stick, more carrot and carrot.
The King and Queen had been taking a lot of flak lately from the usual mixture of cynics,
malcontents, and nay-sayers. Sir Jack’s newspapers had been under orders to patriotically
refute all such treasonable libels while reproducing them in mournfully extensive detail. Ditto
that squalid business with Prince Rick. KING’S COUSIN IN DRUG-CRAZED LEZZIE SEX-ROMPS –
was that the headline? He’d fired the journalist, of course, but sadly dirt had a tendency to
adhere. Carrot and carrot; they could have a whole bunch of carrots if that was what it took. He
would offer them improved pay and conditions, less work and more privacy; he would contrast
the carping ingratitude of their current subjects with the guaranteed adoration of their future
ones; he would stress the decay of their old kingdom and the bright prospects of a precious
jewel set in a silver sea, Mark II.
And how would that jewel glitter? Sir Jack prodded a forefinger down Jeff’s list again, and his
loyal growl intensified with each item he’d crossed off. This wasn’t a poll, it was barefaced
character assassination. Who the fuck did they think they were, going around saying things like
that about England? His England. What did they know? Bloody tourists, thought Sir Jack.” (Julian
Barnes, England, England)

TEXT 4
“The country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise — perhaps the biggest in our
history. Over 33 million people — from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and
Gibraltar — have all had their say.

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We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people with these big
decisions. We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the
arrangements for how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people
themselves, and that is what we have done. The British people have voted to leave the
European Union, and their will must be respected. I want to thank everyone who took part in
the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put aside party differences to
speak in what they believed was the national interest.
And let me congratulate all those who took part in the “Leave” campaign — for the spirited and
passionate case that they made.
The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered. It was not a decision that
was taken lightly, not least because so many things were said by so many different
organizations about the significance of this decision.
So there can be no doubt about the result.
Across the world people have been watching the choice that Britain has made. I would reassure
those markets and investors that Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong.
And I would also reassure Brits living in European countries, and European citizens living here,
that there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances. There will be no initial change
in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be
sold.
We must now prepare for a negotiation with the European Union. This will need to involve the
full engagement of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments to ensure that the
interests of all parts of our United Kingdom are protected and advanced.
But above all this will require strong, determined and committed leadership.
I am very proud and very honored to have been prime minister of this country for six years.
I believe we have made great steps, with more people in work than ever before in our history,
with reforms to welfare and education, increasing people’s life chances, building a bigger and
stronger society, keeping our promises to the poorest people in the world, and enabling those
who love each other to get married whatever their sexuality.
But above all restoring Britain’s economic strength, and I am grateful to everyone who has
helped to make that happen.
I have also always believed that we have to confront big decisions — not duck them.
That’s why we delivered the first coalition government in 70 years to bring our economy back
from the brink. It’s why we delivered a fair, legal and decisive referendum in Scotland. And why
I made the pledge to renegotiate Britain’s position in the European Union and hold a
referendum on our membership, and have carried those things out.
I fought this campaign in the only way I know how — which is to say directly and passionately
what I think and feel — head, heart and soul.
I held nothing back.
I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the
European Union, and I made clear the referendum was about this and this alone — not the
future of any single politician, including myself.
But the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path, and as such I
think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.
I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and
months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our
country to its next destination.

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This is not a decision I have taken lightly, but I do believe it is in the national interest to have a
period of stability and then the new leadership required.
There is no need for a precise timetable today, but in my view we should aim to have a new
prime minister in place by the start of the Conservative Party conference in October.
Delivering stability will be important, and I will continue in post as prime minister with my
cabinet for the next three months. The cabinet will meet on Monday.
The governor of the Bank of England is making a statement about the steps that the bank and
the Treasury are taking to reassure financial markets. We will also continue taking forward the
important legislation that we set before Parliament in the Queen’s Speech. And I have spoken to
Her Majesty, the Queen, this morning to advise her of the steps that I am taking.
A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister, and I
think it is right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50
and start the formal and legal process of leaving the E.U.
I will attend the European Council next week to explain the decision the British people have
taken and my own decision.
The British people have made a choice. That not only needs to be respected — but those on the
losing side of the argument, myself included, should help to make it work.
Britain is a special country.
We have so many great advantages.
A parliamentary democracy where we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful
debate.
A great trading nation, with our science and arts, our engineering and our creativity respected
the world over.
And while we are not perfect, I do believe we can be a model of a multiracial, multifaith
democracy, where people can come and make a contribution and rise to the very highest that
their talent allows.
Although leaving Europe was not the path I recommended, I am the first to praise our
incredible strengths.
I have said before that Britain can survive outside the European Union, and indeed that we
could find a way.
Now the decision has been made to leave, we need to find the best way.
And I will do everything I can to help.
I love this country — and I feel honored to have served it.
And I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.” (David Cameron’s
speech after Brexit vote, 24 June 2016)